Straight Forward
by fluffybluff
Summary: Apparently, being straight forward was more fun than taking the scenic route.


Disclaimer: RK isn't mine.

AN: I've been reading too many old fanfictions and I just realized that some favourite things that people love to discuss about Kenshin are: 1. Him feeling unworthy, 2. Him feeling dirty because of the people he had killed before, 3. Him leaving the doujo because he wanted to protect Kaoru, 4. Kaoru is too young for Kenshin, 5. Kenshin is hiding his feelings. Somehow, this fic popped into my head and I needed to get this out of my head. I'm not mocking others who made fics based on the stuff I mentioned above, I just thought about how to see those in a lighter (or more comedic, if you may) perspective. Yes yes, I am procrastinating and I was supposed to finish The Intersection and Tutoring instead of writing nonsense like this, but anyhoo… Enjoy!

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**Straight Forward**

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"So I'm nineteen now." Kaoru said, standing at Kenshin's door while twirling her black hair with his fingers. Kenshin, who was actually busy taking out some stuff from the storage, stopped and turned around.

"Yes you are, Kaoru-dono. Time flies so fast, that it does." He said with a charming smile. Kaoru pouted.

"Of course I do. That's not the point." She said while stepping inside the room and taking a seat on the tatami floor. Kenshin chuckled and continued to rummage through his stuff. Kaoru coughed and continued. "You know… Since I'm nineteen now… I was thinking… Maybe…"

BAM.

"Oroo…" Kenshin muttered as a seemingly heavy box fell on him.

Kaoru grunted. "Geez Kenshin! It's not even spring anymore! Stop cleaning!" She hissed exasperatedly. Kenshin stopped and looked at her with an innocent face.

"Shessa's not cleaning, I'm actually looking for something, that I am." He said. Kaoru frowned. Since when did he have a lot of things?

"Yeah, so anyways, Since I'm nineteen now, I thought that we shou-"

BAM. Another box fell. This time, Kaoru was sure that it was one of the old boxes she stored before Kenshin started using the room.

"Hmmm… I've never seen this before." Kenshin muttered to himself.

Kaoru sighed. "I'm trying to talk here, could you please stop doing whatever you're trying to do?" She asked. Kenshin turned around and sat down facing her.

"Sorry. You were saying?" He asked, his violet eyes inquisitively looked at Kaoru's sapphire eyes, suddenly making her nervous. Kaoru gulped. It was better when he didn't pay attention to her.

"So…" Kaoru coughed, "I… I'm…"

"You're nineteen, yes." Kenshin said with a small smile. Kaoru blushed.

"Yes I'm nineteen and… Um…" She scratched her head and gaped a few times, but no words came out. She sighed in frustration.

Kenshin chuckled. "What is it that you're trying to say, Kaoru-dono? You could just be honest with sessha." He said, trying to calm her nerve, but instead his comment made her fume.

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT TO ME WHEN… when… The point is, you, yourself, you're always hiding something! YOU are the one who ALWAYS, ALWAYS, HIDING SOMETHING!"

"Oro?"

"DON'T ORO ME! I mean I know you're a rurouni and all, and you are itching to set your feet on the road again…"

"Well, actually, I-"

"DON'T CUT ME!"

"H… Hai, maam…" Kenshin gulped. Kaoru pouted. She had gone waaay off track.

"What I'm trying to say is, you shouldn't restrain yourself, you should do whatever you want to do and say whatever you want to say." She said. Kenshin frowned, a little confused on how this had to do with him being a rurouni and her being nineteen.

"I haven't restrained myself, not anymore." Kenshin said with a small smile. "Kaoru-dono, too, if you have anything you wanted to tell me, you shouldn't be shy and just tell me point blank." He continued, and Kaoru blushed.

"Actually, I want to talk about you… and me." Kaoru said with a small voice.

Kenshin looked at Kaoru. "Hmmm… Okay…"

"I want to know you, Kenshin. I want to know what you're thinking, I want you to show me the deepest corner of your mind, your heart, your pain… your suffering… your insecuritie- KENSHIN! STOP DIGGING INTO THE BOX LIKE A MOLE AND LISTEN TO ME!"

Kenshin, who really was digging into the box, like a mole, stopped and looked at Kaoru. He smiled charmingly, which made Kaoru feel all giddy inside. "You are good at choosing words, Kaoru-dono. You should make a poem." He complimented. Kaoru blushed, and after that she felt like punching herself. She was too easily swayed by Kenshin's nice words!

"That's not the point! I know sometimes you feel like you are dirty, but you are not!" Kaoru said. Kenshin frowned. He was dirty? He sniffed himself. Well, he was a little smelly, because it was so hot and he had been sweating the whole day. He had been rummaging into a cupboard filled with dust as well.

"I guess I am a little dirty." He mumbled with a flushed face.

"But you are not actually dirty! And I know sometimes you feel unworthy and that's why you keep on pushing me away…"

"Oro?"

"…and sometimes you feel that you have to leave because you will endanger my life…"

"ORO?"

"…and I just want you to know, Kenshin. We are family, and you should be comfortable with us."

"Uh… Okay…" Kenshin said, nodding reluctantly. He was still trying to find the connection between this conversation and the fact that she repeatedly told him that she was nineteen earlier. He should have listened to her more carefully, because he was sure that he was missing something in the middle. He really didn't understand the unworthy and the leaving stuff she was talking about.

Wait.

Did this have anything to do with him being dirty? Did Kaoru want her to leave the room because he didn't take a bath for the whole day? Was he that smelly that it repulsed Kaoru so much? But he didn't have the time to take a bath yet, since he had been so busy since this morning.

Kenshin sighed. "Well, Kaoru-dono, you don't have to worry. Shessha will leave as soon as I'm done with these boxes."

Kaoru became pale. "WHAT? Why are you leaving?"

"Well, I'm dirty and I don't want to bother you, so I will lea-"

"YOU DON'T BOTHER ME! DON'T YOU GET WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY?" Kaoru screamed in frustration. She pulled Kenshin towards her and kissed him fully on the lips. After a few seconds, she pushed him away. "I AM NINETEEN! I AM NOT A LITTLE GIRL ANYMORE, AND YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT! BAKA!"

Kenshin blinked, a little confused. "I know you're not a little girl anymore. I wouldn't court a little girl, would I?" He asked.

"NO YOU WON'T AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM! I AM… EH? What? Who's courting who?" Now Kaoru was the one who thought that she missed something. There really was something wrong in this conversation.

"Me… courting…. You?" Kenshin repeated, this time he was a little uncertain. He wasn't sure if Kaoru didn't know what courting means, or Kaoru just didn't want him as a boyfriend.

"But… Don't you want to leave…?" She asked.

"I do. I need to leave and take a bath." Kenshin answered. "Didn't you just say that I'm dirty? I haven't taken a bath since this morning, and I'm sweating a lot. It feels uncomfortable and sticky all over." He said.

"Huh? What?"

"Oro?"

They both are staring each other. Kenshin scratched his head and looked away, trying to find some clarity in this confusion, when he saw something inside the box. "There you are!" He suddenly shouted happily, which made Kaoru jumped.

"What? What are you looking for, actually?" She asked, realizing that she hadn't asked that question. Kenshin grinned and took out a small, light blue embroidered silk pouch and gave it to Kaoru.

"For you." He said.

Kaoru opened it and gasped. It was a pair of hairpin made from tusk, with a little sapphire and opal stones dangling on the side.

"This is… Beautiful… When… Where did you…"

Kenshin chuckled. "I didn't buy it. Three years before I met you, I saved a wife of a merchant, and she was so grateful that she wanted me to have this. I tried refusing, but she said that this is a wish from her so that I can find my happiness. I didn't know why she gave me a pair of hairpins, but now I started to understand."

"Thank you." Kaoru whispered. Kenshin smiled and caressed Kaoru's cheek with the back of his hand.

"It will look beautiful on your hair." He said affectionately. He then got up and was about to leave the room when Kaoru stopped him.

"So, Kenshin… Does this mean that… I can hope to be your lover?" Kaoru asked, blushing a little. Kenshin frowned.

"No! Of course not! Why would I do that to you?" He said, seemed a little flabbergasted by her proposal.

"Then?" Kaoru asked, frustration started to come back. He should stop giving her hopes like this if he didn't even want to change their nature of relationship!

"Oro? I don't want you just as a lover. I want you to be my wife!" He said, as if this was something so obvious. He then sighed and patted Kaoru's hair. "I think you should think about it carefully. I will take a bath now."

Kaoru was left alone in his room with her jaw on the floor.

**OOOOO**

Kenshin sighed as he finished washing himself. He really didn't get the conversation he had earlier with Kaoru. Did she think of herself as too young? Or did she think that _he thought_ that she was too young? He really didn't have a problem with her being nineteen, he had married someone younger than Kaoru before. And what was that with the being-a-rurouni-again thing? Did she not want him anymore?

Kenshin sighed as he entered the tub, didn't even bother to tug his long, loose hair up. After the complicated talk, he might need to have another talk with her, just to see if his intentions and her intentions were the same. He closed his eyes as he tried to arrange the words in his head.

He opened his eyes as he sensed an intruder, right outside of the bathhouse. He then heard a soft bam of the bathhouse gate.

"Kaoru-dono?" He called, recognising her. He heard Kaoru cleared her throat.

"Ne, Kenshin… I don't think you get what I was trying to say earlier… And honestly I don't really get what you were trying to say either." She said. Kenshin sighed, and leaned back in the tub as Kaoru continued from outside of the door."I think… Our problem is that… we are not straight forward. I think we should be straight forward." She said.

Kenshin chuckled. "I agree." He said with a small relieved smile.

Though, his smile faded when the door suddenly opened. Kaoru was standing there, naked. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun, and Kenshin could see that the hairpiece holding her bun was the ones he gave earlier. He didn't dare to look lower than her neckline, since her body was covered by nothing but a small towel.

She blushed furiously. "So I'm being straight forward. Can you promise me that you would do the same?" She asked with a shy voice.

Kenshin gulped, suddenly the hot water became even hotter.

"Kenshin? Can you promise me that?" She asked again.

Kenshin grunted and cursed himself inwardly as he felt that one part of his body had become stiff. "Yes, I promise …" He said, trying to sound normal, but for some reason it came out as a low, bestial growl.

Kaoru dropped her towel, and closed the bathhouse door softly behind her.


End file.
